1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method, system and computer program product for integrating application software and widgets/gadgets (and similar objects) written for one operating system into other operating system environments.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the features that today many computer users desire to have is interoperability between applications written for different operating systems. For example, the APPLE Macintosh computer and its graphical user interface, browser and operating system have a loyal following in the marketplace. At the same time, APPLE Computer, Inc.'s market share is approximately 3-5% of the overall desktop and laptop computer market. As a result, the number of software titles that are written for the MICROSOFT WINDOWS platform (which is approximately 90% of the market today) is vastly greater than the number of software titles written for the APPLE Macintosh. Nonetheless, many APPLE Macintosh users would like to be able to run WINDOWS applications on their Macintosh's, and to do it as “seamlessly” as possible.
Also, many users, regardless of their choice of operating system, also would like to view elements of dynamic web pages presenting data that constantly changes on their desktops without having to download a particular page or an entire web application.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method for seamless integration of non-native operating system applications, widgets, gadgets and similar entities into native operating system environments.